what we decide to call turning-points in history frames our view of the past. what was important? these are significant shifts in world history. i have specifically created this list to focus on events that had lasting impacts on large portions of the world and this doesn’t include many regionally-significant events. if you seek more location-focused lists, please let me know as i have those, too. this is aimed at those studying world history as a survey course. it also reflects my fundamental belief that culture is the driving force in human history, not necessarily conquest or battle, though they usually go hand-in-hand, especially in earlier periods. what i believe is significant is a matter of opinion but i am happy to provide my reasoning if you are curious. most of the dates in the pre-modern world are approximate. the dates given for longer events are beginnings, ends or significant moments in those events.
unit 1 – our beginnings (-550bce)
general early history
- development of language
- development of agriculture
- mastery of fire
- invention of writing
- development of alphabets
- beginning of literature
- development of formal administration and leadership
- rise of early civilizations
- first extinctions
specific turning points
- creation of sumerian and egyptian writing (-3200)
- egyptian first dynasty (-3150)
- jiroft culture (-3000)
- beginning of papyrus writing (-3000)
- beginning of iron production (-3000)
- longshan culture (-2800)
- egyptian old kingdom (-2700)
- rise of mayan culture (-2600)
- harappan era (-2600)
- great pyramid of giza (-2560)
- egyptian middle kingdom (-2055)
- domestication of the horse (-2000)
- creation of alphabets (-1800)
- code of hammurabi (-1780)
- rise of mycenae (-1600)
- shang dynasty (-1600)
- egyptian new kingdom (-1550)
- rigvega (-1500)
- rise of olmec civilization (-1400)
- bronze age collapse (-1200)
- phoenician alphabet (-1050)
- zhou dynasty (-1046)
- writing of iliad/odyssey (-900)
- rise of kush (-800)
- ancient olympic games (-776)
- spring & autumn period (-771)
- founding of rome (-753)
- fall of the assyrian empire (-612)
- rise of the great kingdoms in india (-600)
- birth of the buddha (-553)
- birth of confucius (-551)
unit 2 – age of empires (550bce-570ce)
- achaemenid empire (-550)
- athenian democracy (-508)
- standardization of classical sanskrit (-500)
- greco-persian wars (-499)
- warring states period (-475)
- parthenon (-447)
- peloponnesian war (-431)
- selucid empire (-321)
- parthian empire (-250)
- qin dynasty & great wall (-221)
- invention of paper (-220)
- maccabean revolt (-167)
- roman conquest of greece (-146)
- siege of jerusalem (-63)
- roman civil war (-49)
- roman empire (-27)
- birth of jesus (-4)
- destruction of the second jewish temple (70)
- three kingdoms period (220)
- split of the roman empire (285)
- edict of milan (313)
- first council of nicea (325)
- battle of adrianople (378)
- vulgate bible (405)
- sack of rome (410)
- rise of tik’al and teotihuacan (500)
- code of civil lay (529)
- gothic war (535)
unit 3 – spread of ideas (570-1054)
- birth of mohammed (570)
- reunification of china (581)
- grand canal completed (604)
- abu bakr becomes the first caliph (632)
- siege of constantinople (674)
- conquest of hispania (771)
- iconoclasm (726)
- abbasid caliphate (750)
- carolingian empire (751)
- heian period (794)
- invention of gunpowder (800)
- classical maya civilization collapses (900)
- avicenna’s canon of medicine (1025)
- great schism (1054)
unit 4 – interconnections (1054-1492)
- collapse of the byzantine empire (1071)
- crusades (1095)
- translation of arabic literature to latin (1100)
- hanseatic league (1158)
- saladin captures jerusalem (1187)
- magnetic compasses standardized (1200)
- sack of constantinople (1204)
- mongol empire (1206)
- siege of baghdad (1258)
- fall of the song dynasty to kublai khan (1279)
- publication of marco polo’s the tales of china (1298)
- ottoman empire (1299)
- aztec empire (1325)
- hundred years’ war (1337)
- black death (1347)
- battle of nicopolis and end of crusades (1396)
- kalmar union (1397)
- invention of movable type (1400)
- ming treasure voyages (1405)
- construction of the forbidden city (1420)
- defeat of azcapotzalco (1428)
- battle of orléans (1429)
- inca empire (1438)
- creation of hangul (1443)
- construction of machu picchu (1450)
- invention of the harpsichord (1450)
- gutenberg press in europe (1455)
- fall of constantinople (1453)
- birth of guru nanak (1469)
- rise of arthurian culture (1480)
- spanish inquisition (1481)
- war of the roses (1487)
- european discovery of the new world (1492)
unit 5 – trade & exploration (1492-1765)
- treaty of tordesillas (1494)
- vasco da gama’s return voyage (1497)
- fall of mississippian culture (1500)
- rise of new-world slavery (1500)
- safavid dynasty (1501)
- smallpox reaches the new world (1507)
- machiavelli writes the prince (1513)
- battle of chaldiran (1514)
- protestant reformation (1517)
- treaty of london (1518)
- magellan and elcano circumnavigate earth (1519)
- introduction of cocoa to europe (1523)
- sack of rome & end of renaissance in europe (1527)
- siege of vienna (1529)
- creation of the church of england (1531)
- conquest of the inca empire (1532)
- france claimed for canada (1534)
- king james bible (1537)
- battle of preveza (1538)
- european exploration of north america (1539)
- copernical heliocentrism (1543)
- china bans all foreign trade (1548)
- mongol invasion of china (1550)
- elizabethan era (1558)
- battle of djerba (1560)
- wars of religion (1562)
- eighty years war (1566)
- publication of mercator’s world map (1569)
- battle of lepanto (1571)
- st bartholemew’s day massacre (1572)
- gregorian calendar (1582)
- defeat of the spanish armada (1588)
- defeat of the mali empire (1599)
- dutch east india company (1602)
- publication of ricci’s map of the myriad countries of the world (1602)
- edo period (1603)
- peace of zsitvatorok (1606)
- rise of aceh (1607)
- catholic league (1609)
- john napier’s logarithm tables (1614)
- manchu invasion of china (1618)
- st peter’s basilica (1626)
- thirty years’ war (1629)
- taj mahal (1632)
- wars of the three kingdoms (1639)
- peace of westphalia (1648)
- northern wars (1655)
- discovery of the cell (1663)
- british conquest of new york (1664)
- great turkish war (1667)
- hudson’s bay company (1670)
- maratha empire (1674)
- treaty of nijmegen (1678)
- pueblo revolt (1680)
- glorious revolution (1688)
- bill of rights (1689)
- salem witch trials (1692)
- steam engine adopted in the west (1699)
- ashanti empire (1701)
- war of the spanish succession (1701)
- maratha empire (1707)
- first copyrights (1710)
- coffee first arrives in europe (1712)
- south sea bubble (1720)
- russia ends slavery (1723)
- treaty of constantinople (1724)
- first encyclopedia (1726)
- methodism (1729)
- first modern water-powered mill (1742)
- little ice age (1750)
- seven years’ war (1756)
- stamp act (1765)
unit 6 – industrialization (1765-1894)
- establishment of spanish missions in california (1769)
- james cook’s explorations in the pacific (1769)
- bengal famine (1770)
- boston massacre, boston tea party & american revolution (1770)
- xhosa war (1779)
- rebellion in peru (1780)
- american constitution (1787)
- french revolution (1789)
- creation of canada (1791)
- smallpox vaccine (1796)
- white lotus rebellion (1796)
- barbary wars (1801)
- napoleonic wars (1803)
- first steam train (1804)
- mexican war of independence (1810)
- zulu kingdom (1816)
- industrial revolution (1820)
- monroe doctrine (1823)
- internal combustion engine (1826)
- electric motor (1829)
- battle of the alamo (1836)
- opium wars (1839)
- oregon trail (1840)
- treaty of nanking (1842)
- telegraph (1844)
- marx’ communist manifesto published (1848)
- california gold rush (1848)
- taiping rebellion (1850)
- indian rebellion (1857)
- publication of darwin’s on the origin of species (1859)
- suez canal (1859)
- american civil war (1861)
- emancipation proclamation (1863)
- red cross & first geneva convention (1863)
- meiji restoration (1868)
- discovery of cro-magnon man (1868)
- first transcontinental railroad (1869)
- franco-prussian war (1870)
- phonograph (1877)
- light bulb (1879)
- boer wars (1880)
- panama canal (1881)
- scramble for africa (1884)
- internal-combustion engine & automobile (1885)
- wounded knee massacre (1890)
- grammophone (1894)
unit 7 – modern war (1894-1945)
- sino-japanese wars (1894)
- cuban war of independence (1895)
- boxer rebellion (1898)
- first transatlantic radio signal (1901)
- russo-japanese war (1904)
- san francisco earthquake (1906)
- invention of plastic (1907)
- young turk revolution (1908)
- annexation of korea (1910)
- xinhai revolution (1911)
- identification of atomic nucleus (1911)
- moving assembly-line (1913)
- world war i (1914)
- russian revolution & ussr (1917)
- spanish flu (1918)
- league of nations (1920)
- prohibition (1920)
- washington naval treaty (1922)
- founding of disney (1923)
- kellogg-briand pact (1928)
- great depression (1929)
- invasion of manchuria (1931)
- hitler becomes chancellor of germany (1933)
- long march & foundation of the people’s republic of china (1934)
- nanjing massacre (1937)
- anschluss (1938)
- world war ii (1939)
- katyn massacre (1940)
- battle of britain (1940)
- attack on pearl harbor (1941)
- yalta conference (1945)
- atomic bombings of japan (1945)
unit 8 – nuclear age (1945-1989)
- united nations (1945)
- invention of the transistor (1947)
- assassination of ghandi (1948)
- marshall plan (1948)
- world health organization (1948)
- arab-israeli war (1948)
- apartheid (1948)
- berlin blockade (1948)
- korean war (1948)
- nato (1949)
- treaty of san francisco & bonn-paris conventions (1951)
- mau mau uprising (1952)
- color television (1953)
- warsaw pact (1955)
- space age (1957)
- oral contraceptive pill (1957)
- vietnam war (1959)
- first person in space (1961)
- algerian war (1962)
- second vatican council (1965)
- six-day war (1967)
- prague spring (1968)
- my lai massacre (1968)
- stonewall riots (1969)
- moonwalk (1969)
- sesame street (1969)
- foundation of greenpeace (1971)
- video games (1972)
- yom kippur war (1973)
- discovery of lucy (1974)
- personal computers (1975)
- vhs (1976)
- war in afghanistan (1978)
- iranian revolution & hostage crisis (1979)
- killing fields (1979)
- pac-man (1980)
- space shuttle (1981)
- compact disc (1982)
- hiv/aids (1984)
- macintosh & windows (1985)
- challenger disaster (1986)
- chernobyl disaster (1986)
- first intifada (1987)
- perestroika & glasnost (1988)
- iran-iraq war (1988)
unit 9 – imperfect peace (1989-today)
- tiananmen square (1989)
- exxon valdez oil-spill (1989)
- hubble space telescope (1990)
- gulf war (1990)
- german reunification (1990)
- linux (1991)
- european union (1992)
- los angeles riots (1992)
- bosnian war (1992)
- world trade center bombing (1993)
- oslo accords (1993)
- nafta (1994)
- three gorges dam (1994)
- world trade organization (1995)
- srebrenica massacre (1995)
- dvd (1996)
- death of princess diana (1997)
- good friday agreement (1998)
- google (1998)
- euro (1999)
- second intifada (2000)
- wikipedia (2001)
- 9/11 attacks (2001)
- ipod (2001)
- international criminal court (2002)
- african union (2002)
- sars outbreak (2002)
- space shuttle columbia disaster (2003)
- darfur war (2003)
- human genome project (2003)
- facebook (2004)
- kyoto protocol (2005)
- israeli withdrawal from gaza (2005)
- youtube (2006)
- iphone (2007)
- first black president of the united states (2008)
- large hadron collider (2008)
- boko haram rebellion (2009)
- arab spring (2010)
- instagram (2010)
- syrian civil war (2011)
- higgs boson (2012)
- isis (2014)
- one-child policy (2015)
- wikileaks (2015)
- detection of gravitational-waves (2016)
- panama papers leak (2016)
- brexit (2016)
- paris agreement (2016)
- women’s march (2017)
- yellow vests movement (2018)
- chang’e 4 (2019)
- event horizon telescope (2019)
- impeachment of donald trump (2019)
- indian citizenship act (2019)
- united nations climate action summit (2019)
- covid-19 pandemic (2020)
- glasgow climate pact (2021)
- russian invasion of ukraine (2022)
- october 7 terrorist attack (2023)